Arsenic Exposure From Your Drinking Water Reaching Your Unborn Child

In the study, “Placental arsenic concentrations in relation to both maternal and infant biomarkers of exposure in a US cohort” (which you can read here… ) authors studied placenta arsenic and looked at the relationship between placental, maternal and infant arsenic concentrations. They found the maternal placental arsenic concentration was significantly correlated (P<0.0001) to the arsenic concentration in the drinking water and that in maternal urine tested at 24-28 weeks gestational age, and also correlated with maternal and infant toe nail concentrations (p = 0.02).

We know arsenic is a potent neurotoxin and this study confirms that the higher the maternal exposure, the greater the placental transfer of the toxin to the developing baby. It would be useful to have similar studies on more of the known neurotoxins, like mercury, lead, aluminum, pesticides, herbicides, flame retardants, etc. This study should be a clear example of why you should not drink tap water or well water without having it tested or better yet just filter it with both reverse osmosis and charcoal filtration.